The almighty 2016-2017 summer transfer window thread

the problem is that the lack of cover, and failure to address the glaring need for a striker and DM, caused 3 of the 11 players on the pitch to be stinkers. just hoping for better "luck" with injuries every year is a losing policy

Injuries have drastically improved from recent years, but it doesn't matter if all players are 100% fit for the duration of the season when we have a manager who plays outdated football and blames everyone but himself when we continually fail at the same things year in and year out.

Little bit niggle

Not going to disagree with that statement.

Sorry but I'm not buying into one player causing a season collapse in a team game where 11 players are on the pitch at the same time.

Yeah, it's just like that season when Arsenal were going to win the league, then RVP gets injured and everything goes to shits. Or that season when Eduardo's injury fucked the season.

Or when RVP went to a mediocre Man U side, stayed fit all season and won them the league.

Injuries have drastically improved from recent years, but it doesn't matter if all players are 100% fit for the duration of the season when we have a manager who plays outdated football and blames everyone but himself when we continually fail at the same things year in and year out.

There are injuries and there are injuries. Who cares if Rosicky, Wilshere or Walcott miss the whole season to injury? They're never missed.

But losing Cazorla is equivalent to losing half the squad.

Or when RVP went to a mediocre Man U side, stayed fit all season and won them the league.

RVP did not win Man Utd the league.

RVP did not win Man Utd the league.

Ok, put it this way - without RVP Man U wouldn't have won the league that season.

Ok, put it this way - without RVP Man U wouldn't have won the league that season.

Of course they would. The secret to Manchester United all those years was Alex Ferguson. It wouldn't have mattered what players he had available, he would have won it anyway. He won titles with Ronaldo and without Ronaldo. With Beckham and without Beckham. The players were irrelevant, as evidenced by the subsequent collapse of the club the second he left. Moyes took over a team of mediocre mid-table donkeys and wasn't equipped to get them to overperform.

They wouldn't have won the League without van Persie.

They had 0 firepower in that team apart from him. As shown by the season after when he was struggling for fitness and as a result they looked pony. Not to mention the loss of their core players like Vidic, Rio & Evra as well as a bang average in squad in general.

Of course Fergie played a massive part, but so did van Persie. He was the best striker in the World for 2 and a half seasons.

Ok, that's debatable. The biggest advantage of Purple Nose was that the referees were gifting him around 10-15 points every season.

The main thing I'm trying to say is that an injury to a key player can wreck a season, as it happened with Cazorla this season.

They wouldn't have won the League without van Persie. They had 0 firepower in that team apart from him.

He scored 26 goals that season, but you're saying that without RvP they would have scored 26 fewer goals, which obviously isn't the case. His goal tally "only" accounted for 33% of the team's goal that season, which is less than the contribution made by Suarez, Bale, Benteke, Michu and Lukaku...in other words they were scoring just fine even without RvP. Especially considering Man Utd scored 20 more goals than Man City in second place that season - they could bought a striker that scored half the goals RvP did and still win the league.

He was the best striker in the World for 2 and a half seasons.

Lol...the Arsenal-tinted glasses working just fine. Messi and Ronaldo have been the best strikers on this planet since around 2007-2008, and in 2012-2013 Suarez was a better player allround for his team in the Premier League alone. You also had Falcao at Atletico at that time scoring 28 goals and Ibrahimovic running riot for PSG with 30 goals (almost half of all PSG's goals that season).

So no...RvP was far from the best striker in the world, at any time in his career. At his very best in that last six month period for Arsenal I'd agree he was somewhere in the top ten for a short period. But the last time Arsenal had a best striker in the world was when Thierry Henry was scoring goals for fun at Highbury. Since then we haven't had the best in the world in any position.

The main thing I'm trying to say is that an injury to a key player can wreck a season, as it happened with Cazorla this season.

We are one truly mediocre club if one player is so much better than the other ten that we implode the second that player is unavailable. If our midfield is so fragile, perhaps another system should be implemented.

Bayern has already done more transfer business than arsenal will manage to do all summer.

Rode to Gladbach then Xhaka to Arsenal it seems.

Source?

I think arsenal are going to lose their top players rather than bringing in additional top players

I had a look at that Xkaka on youtube, there's hardly anything to wet yourself over.

I hope he's Ramsey's replacement.

Agreed. I am stil struggling to understand the value he brings to the team, either offensively or defensively. I would rather pair Elneny with The Cocq.> If Ramsey keeps on playing for purely himself and his ego I'd get rid of him and bring in someone like Verratti who would be perfect for this Arsenal team.

Granit Xhaka makes sense to be fair. Big powerful Matic-style central midfielder is desperately needed at Arsenal. Cement him in one of the CM positions and you can play around with partnerships all season long. Need more penetration? Put Wilshere or Ramsey next to him. Need more stability? Put Coquelin or Elneny next to him. I have no issue with Xhaka.

The problem as I see it is what excuse we're getting from Wenger on September 1st when Xhaka was the only first team signing all summer long. Let's save Wenger some time:

• "It's impossible to find players of the right quality" (doesn't seem impossible for other teams)
• "The Euros are making it hard to sign players" (it doesn't)
• "We don't want to upset the balance by signing too many players" (there is zero evidence to this being an issue - plenty of teams have won the league title after signing 5+ players in one summer)

...and so on.

Welbeck out for 9 months means Giroud is a dead cert to stay at the club. Gutted.

Welbeck out for 9 months means Giroud is a dead cert to stay at the club. Gutted.

Nothing wrong with Giroud, the problem is our system. 4-4-2 with Giroud as the target man in a partnership with a nimble poacher would absolutely destroy the Premier League. The stuff Giroud did last game was typical. Small brilliant passes, holding up the ball, etc.